Mossack Fonseca: Switzerland Agrees to AEOI with Five More Territories

The Swiss Federal Council said that data collection will commence in 2017 and the first exchanges will take place in 2018. The exchanges will be based on the standards set out in the Multilateral Competent Authority Agreement on the Automatic Exchange of Financial Account Information (MCAA).

The bilateral declarations specify that the jurisdictions are satisfied with the confidentiality rules provided for in the other jurisdiction with regard to tax. The Council said that countries have also established regulatory procedures that allow taxpayers to regularize their tax affairs on favourable terms. The Council added that Iceland and Norway have reiterated their intention to hold talks on market access for Swiss financial services providers.

Switzerland’s Federal Department of Finance will now hold consultations on the implementation of the declarations. The corresponding federal decrees will then be submitted to Parliament for approval.

Switzerland has signed a similar joint declaration with Australia, and an automatic exchange of information agreement has been concluded with the European Union.